Serving DuBois
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in DuBois, PA
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
The creek is tiny and it flooded us.
Headwater streams do exactly that. Near a drainage divide there is no large upstream basin to moderate the flow, so a small channel responds directly and immediately to whatever falls on its catchment. It rises within minutes and drops just as fast. Size is a poor guide to hazard here; what matters is how steep the catchment above is and how quickly it delivers.
Our downspouts empty right beside the wall. How much does that matter?
Where the roof water actually goes. On plateau ground with thin soil, the volume off a roof is a large fraction of what the ground immediately around a house has to absorb, and much of this area has no municipal storm system to take it. A downspout discharging two feet from a wall is delivering an entire roof to the foundation. Extending those discharges well clear resolves more cellar dampness here than any work done below grade.
Does the winter make cellar problems worse?
It does, cumulatively rather than in any single season. Ground that goes into a deep freeze saturated expands and presses against foundation walls, and the cycle repeats every year. Over decades that shows as bowing or displaced stone in older walls. Keeping the soil behind the wall drier through the autumn is the only real lever, since the freezing itself cannot be avoided.
This FAQ belongs to the DuBois page; it is repeated here.